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So I've been wondering why in the heck I haven't posted this thread here in my own backyard seeing as how I've been posting it EVERYWHERE else. My apologies, I feel bad for not doing this sooner.

Anyway, some of you may already know that I've been working on this project (which partly explains why I've been so crazy busy these last 8 months), but for those of you who don't, sit back grab some popcorn and enjoy the show.

I've long been aspiring to build a GM (cause I just love that costume) and after a short stint with sculpting Mando/Boba Fett armor, I feel comfortable enough to move forward with this project.

I've LONG looked at doing this costume, but until recently have felt confident in attempting a complete scratch sculpt/build of the armor...I've attempted, to the best of my abilities, to stay as true as possible to the screen caps while balancing a real world feel/practicality to the look of the armor. As we all know in the clone world, that's a difficult thing to do. Here's a look at the 360 turnaround and a few others for reference for those of you not familiar with this costume

First up were the shins:
I've sculpted these with my own body style in mind while trying to stay true to the original movie stills as much as possible (cause I'm anal like that ) I cut these out and taped them together to try them on...granted these are not KC boots that they're sitting on so keep that in mind (I'll be getting a set soon to put them on to see where they're at), but so far I'm VERY pleased with the results and the look.

This set is pre assembled to my foot as a seamless cut cause I wanted to see how they look slipped on like a sock. These have quite a bit more of a slender/curved look which was what I was shooting for. The first pics you'll see are of the first attempt at a narrow set. I've also sculpted a wider set per the recommendation of others over on CT

So without boring you any further, please take a look at the pics below

Pics of the narrow set

Here's some pics of the wide set (please ignore the chicken legs :P)
Boot armor courtesy of MB

And here's a few shots of the wide vs. narrow side by side for comparison:
These knees I actually made a few years back, but here they are anyway for the sake of the thread

And here's the latest addition to the family, the chest.

I did a preliminary test pull for a master and was fairly pleased with the results...still got a few nitpicky things to do to it, but they're minor so shouldn't take long.

Hope to have this done by the end of the week. Take a look:
Here's a test fit with me wearing V1
Barry over on CT informed me that the arch on the flat area was too tall. After thinking it over while at work last night I decided to take the plunge and correct it. Got home this morning and knocked out the necessary corrections...after ha humming and walking around the garage for about ten minutes and looking at the mold and the ref pics I finally balled up and did it. I still hung onto the old master just in case, but as I started sanding it down I became very pleased with what I was starting to see. Here's the results:
Comparison side by side with the old V1
I also decided to slope down the upper chest area just a bit more so it didn't look so bulbous and for more ergonomic conformity (correction version in the background)

OK here's what I came up with after one failed attempt....the second try was good though. I'm pretty happy with the way it looks and fits, very comfy!
Here's what I modified it from the original
In this picture you can see the awful one on the far right...looks completely wrong

I don't think it's going to be physically possible for me to make it look exactly like the screengrab given the angles and curvature (as seen from that last photo of my 3 chest sets)...not to mention that a lot of the CG characters have bending/stretching armor while in motion (which defies all laws of physics lol). I have a feeling this might be the case in the screengrab regarding the GM chest piece....it's so askew of an angle that it's difficult to tell.

I'm still trying to make these wearable in the real world while staying as true as possible to the reference materials and as we all know it's a hard thing to accomplish.

Up next was the right shoulder bell.
I pulled this in the .090 white cause that's likely what I'll be using for this piece. I noticed that it kept it's form much better than the .060 on the initial pull (pics of that ugliness over on CT.net) so I was much happier with the results. I trimmed it down to where I figured looked about right and I'm pretty happy with it. Obviously I still need to add the loops, but I need to get this part down first before moving forward (not to mention I need to know exactly how big this shoulder bell will be before adding them).

Here's where I'm at right now on this piece. This piece has kind of been a thorn in my side. I originally thought it to be a very simple quick sculpt (I'm beginning to learn there is no such thing, especially given how anal I am )

After doing the math and marking all the proper lines over the curvatures, I cut grooves into the mold (not before pulling another scrap master just in case). These had to be absolutely straight because they would become guides for the Audio Video cable that I was about to use for the raised ribs/loops (yes, I said Audio Video cables...hey we all know how it is, use what you can and what works and what's cheap right? ) I just super glued them on there cause I really only needed it for one pull anyway. Afterwards the final master will be completely plaster. Here's pics:

And here's what happens when you get your finger in the super glue...yes that's part of my finger print ...ouch!

Next, I chopped off the bottom edge of the mold to square it and size it properly
Here's a preliminary pull. I still need to clean up the tops of the ribs and fade them into the bell...easy stuff and shouldn't take too long

Got a bit more progress to share with you all. I'm on the home stretch on this piece and just have some edging lines to carve in as well as some quick smoothing/surfacing to finish up. I'm very happy with how the shoulders turned out, as they were a real pain to get them just right...but it was worth it as it fits great. I took some pics to show you all where I'm at with this. I'll post pics in a few days with me wearing it so you can get a better idea, but for now here's a preview

Thanks guys for the great comments, it's very appreciated
I've been working on this since last August and finally decided to post up in here to share with you all. At the moment I'm pretty much at a stopping point to take a break cause I've been busting my ***** on this trying to get it knocked out (pile on top of that my regular 40+ /hr a week job, staying on top of orders, spending time with the gf, working on my own costumes, etc) and well you get the idea lol. I'll keep more pics comin as I progress. Thanks all for checking the thread and stay tuned!

Here's a few shots of my roommate wearing the chest and back (I kidnapped him and held him at gunpoint :P...actually he was happy to do it and very helpful). It gave me a good chance to look at it while not wearing it so that was a huge plus for me. I have to say I'm a little surprised (and proud) at how well it fit him. He's got a 42 inch chest for those of you who are concerned about size (AND he's wearing a hoodie...he said it was snug but not too tight)...anything larger than that and you're likely going to have to shim it up.

And of course the obligatory family photos

That's it for now. Gonna take a bit of a break to catch up on some stuff (as well as some orders) before I start up on the next piece...as always, stay tuned!